For whatever reason, this trip of 7 nights felt much shorter than any other we’ve taken. So many things we wanted to do, people we wanted to see, we just didn’t get in. I’m not sure I can explain why such was the case; we didn’t spend an inordinate amount of time just lying on the beach, but the days seemed to fly by. Never took that daytrip to St. Barths we’ve always talked about doing for years, never made it to some of the beaches that in 13 trips to SXM, we still haven’t seen. Next time, 10 days minimum…a week is just not enough!

And perhaps because it went so fast, I felt especially sad leaving the island this time. Before going to the airport, we spent our last couple of hours at Sunset Beach Bar. They had live entertainment, a blues singer who played guitar and harmonica. John asked him to play “Sweet Home Chicago”.

If you’ve seen The Blues Brothers, you’ve heard this song. Part of it goes, “Come on, baby don’t you wanna go…Back to that same ol’ place, sweet home Chicago.” Well, Chicago is a sweet home, but no, I didn’t wanna go! A poignant end to another good trip to my sweet island home.

OK, I seem to have started at the end, let’s start back at the beginning. We flew USAir (through Charlotte) for the first time ever and probably for the last time, too. Not only might they not be in business the next time we go to SXM, we found their flight attendants to be surly, their processes to be disorganized and the seats to be tighter and less comfortable than on American.

But the important thing is they got us there safe, sound and on time. We grabbed our carry-ons, made a fairly quick trip though immigration and headed out to meet the Unity rep. He took us over to the “office” where Michael was waiting and got us on our way quickly, efficiently and with a good price on a Suzuki Grand Vitara, the same vehicle we’ve rented from Unity several times before.

So into the Vitara and off we went. The first thing we noticed was that the weather felt, well, cool. Not exactly chilly, but only in the upper 70s, certainly cooler than we expect for SXM. It stayed like this the first few days and the cause was most likely Tropical Storm Otto, brewing hundreds of miles away, north of Bermuda, but affecting SXM’s weather all the same. In fact, I was tempted to put on my sweatshirt and long pants when we went to dinner that first night, but couldn’t quite make myself do that. After all, this is the tropics, dammit.

The affects of Otto also made the water on Orient very rough. Sitting near Papagayo’s, one can usually watch the rolling waves breaking over the off-shore reef between the point of land and Green Caye. But what we saw those first few days were walls of water. This also made the bay feel very cold for swimming. But, within a couple of days all was back to normal…calm and warm at the Club O stretch of beach.

This odd weather system also made the air unbelievably clear. We could see Saba like never before, and from the right vantage point, also Statia, St. Kitts and Nevis, all in a row. I think our timing weather-wise was perfect. There was so much rain in the islands in early November that made the island nice and green for us, and now I hear it’s raining a lot again in mid-December. On our trip, we had perhaps a total of 20 minutes of rain all week, with beautifully clear blue skies most of the rest of the time. And only one day would I actually say it felt outright hot to the point of being sticky.

We stayed at Hotel L’Hoste on Orient Beach again…we’ve stayed here several times. It offers everything we need for the level of comfort we seek. Anyone considering a top-floor oceanview room here, however, should note that the foliage is so thick around the buildings that there really is no ocean view any longer. There IS ocean sound, though, and I really enjoyed sitting on the balcony with my book, listening to the sound of the ocean, even if I couldn’t actually see the sea.

As for food, our most memorable meals were at hard-core local places like Hilma’s Windsor Castle (as seen in Tony Bourdain’s NY Times article) and the all-vegan Ital Shack in Philipsburg, another recommendation from Tony Bourdain and Bulldog. We had our fancy French dinner the first night at Bistrot Caraibes, had delicious Creole food at Poulet d’Orleans and Thai food from Bikini Beach Bar’s newly revamped menu. One really outstanding dinner was the pizza and salad we had at Au Grain du Sel in the Cul de Sac area…and that was our least expensive dinner, too. The pizza, salad and a carafe of wine set us back only $25. It was so good, we both felt like we could have eaten there several times that week. We had our usual dinner at Turtle Pier where they have the best conch chowder, great sushi at Bamboo Bernie’s (but don’t bother with Reggae Night – disappointing entertainment) and good steaks one night at Los Gauchos. I have to say, though, it felt odd to eat indoors in SXM. They’re talking about creating some outdoor seating at Los Gauchos and I hope that comes to be.

The only really disappointing meal we had was lunch at the restaurant at La Vista. We went there based on several recommendations that have said how pleasant it is to eat by the pool, food and service are great, etc. Unless we missed something somehow, we found the menu to be much too American in style, with just burgers, a few other sandwiches like BLTs, some salads and soup. There was no breeze and the air felt thick and heavy…sitting there was the only time we felt uncomfortably hot all week.

We stopped by the TTOL party at Baywatch on 12/3 for a short while. It was amusing to see the reactions of first-time visitors to the island when they caught site of the bodypainter creating art in places paint usually doesn’t go.

One day, we went into Philipsburg for our traditional look around (we’re not much into actual shopping). There were NO cruise ships in that day. It was just us, a handful of other tourists and a whole bunch of locals out doing their Christmas shopping. I have to say we both really liked P-burg this way.

A few hours of our Philipsburg excursion were spent at a Canadian-owned bar called the Get Wet Beach Bar. It’s along the new boardwalk (which is very nice, by the way). This is the day that was rather hot and we stopped just to get some Diet Coke. We started chatting with the owner and one of his regular customers and soon switched from Diet Coke to Heineken. Several Heinies and a few hours later, when it came time to settle the tab, he said just to pay for whatever we remembered drinking! Oh my, only in the islands!

So what else is new on SXM? Well, people are as friendly as always, something I hope never changes, even as building and construction continues at a feverish pace all around the island. Sunset Beach Bar is really on a growth spurt. Even while we were there, they were putting the finishing touches on a waterfront lower level to the deck. They have a chair/umbrella concession on the beach adjacent to SSBB, and they even have four TVs mounted inside the bar on the “shady side” of the structure. One always seems to be tuned to The Weather Channel so you can see how cold and nasty it is back home at any time. There’s also now a second bar next to where they grill the food. I’m happy to report that the burgers are still grilled on steel drum BBQs, although John thought they weren’t quite as good as they had been in the past. I disagree: a burger as SSBB is good anytime, and that goes beyond just how the food tastes. It’s the whole atmosphere.

We did run into a Carib Beer shortage on the island. Some places had it, some didn’t. Apparently, there was a workers’ strike somewhere in the supply chain. But no matter, Presidente really is a better beer anyway.

Apparently, business is picking up for most establishments on both sides of the island. Most everyone we talked to is optimistic about a good tourist season ahead, better than any since before Hurricane Lenny hit in ’99 and 9/11 slowed travel everywhere. If heavy traffic around Simpson Bay is any indication, the island will be packed with people this winter.

Back in Chicago, we’re going through withdrawl, both from warmth and from alcohol I think. I won’t talk about how cold it is here right now, but all around the country we’re getting a cold slap of reality from this year’s winter season.

Without any more talk of cold and snow, here’s a link to my “SXM Christmas” poem currently posted on the SXM People Talk board. Jamie's "SXM Christmas" Poem

Happy holidays to one and all!
Jamie & John